Waste tires, in recent years, are passed through a preheater and charged into a kiln for firing when used as an auxiliary fuel for calcination of cement. Since the kiln is operated for 24 continuous hours, and moreover requires a kiln temperature control, a tire charge interval is determined by calculating the weight and calories of tires to be charged at the charging port of the preheater. It is therefore necessary to feed the waste tires one by one into the charging port of the preheater.
As means for separating and conveying waste tires one by one from a stack yard, techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 11808/1982 and 11955/1988 have previously been utilized. In the above-described prior art references, the former shows an individual separating technique utilizing a water stream, in which, because the tire floats, it is necessary to build a larger pool for holding a multitude of tires in order to maintain a substantial number of tires to be continuously supplied to the preheater. Furthermore, since the large pool is set outdoors, the flow of the tires will sometimes be disturbed by an outside air stream flowing counter to the water stream. In addition, water is likely to enter the circular space of the tire, requiring the difficult task of removing the water. The second reference shows a transport technique for classifying separated waste tires by size, not a technique for separating and transporting only one of a plurality of waste tires that are being carried together without being individually separated.